headhuntershorrorhousefandomcom-20200215-history
John Carpenter
| image = | birth name = John Howard Carpenter | known aliases = Martin Quatermass; Frank Armitage | gender = | mediums = Film; Television | roles = Director; Composer; Writer | date of birth = January 16th, 1948 | place of birth = Carthage, New York | date of death = | place of death = | notable works = Halloween | first = Halloween (1978) }} John Carpenter is an American film director and composer best known for creating the Halloween franchise. He was born on January 16th in Carthage, New York. Carpenter's earliest work comprised a series of shorts based on classic atomic-era sci-fi horror such as Revenge of the Collosal Beasts, Terror from Space and Gorgon, the Space Monster. His first full directorial debut was the 1976 action film Assault on Precinct 13, which he also wrote. His first genre film was the 1978 slasher Halloween, a film whose popularity would spawn seven sequels and three remakes. Carpenter collaborated on Halloween with Debra Hill, who also worked with him on Assault on Precinct 13. Carpenter also composed the film score for Halloween, which consisted of a simple, yet haunting 10/8 meter melody that would become one of the most recognizable scores in horror film history. Although Halloween is arguably Carpenter's most famous film, he only directed the first movie and had minimal involvement with the sequels. Over the next twenty years, Carpenter's work remained locked in the horror genre, though he did enjoy some non-genre hits such as the Escape From New York franchise. In 2005, Carpenter was one of many genre directors who contributed their talents to the Masters of Horror mini-movies. Carpenter directed the 2005 episode "Cigarette Burns" and the 2006 episode "Pro-Life". Body of work Television Notes & Trivia * John Carpenter approached Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee to play the Sam Loomis role (that was eventually played by Donald Pleasence) but both turned him down. Lee later said it was it was the biggest mistake he ever made in his career. IMDB; Halloween; Trivia * Formerly married to actress Adrienne Barbeau. * appeared as a commentator on the "Tales from the Crypt: From Comic Books to Television" documentary special. * made a cameo appearance in the 1993 anthology film Body Bags, playing the coroner in the film's opening and closing sequences. The end of the film reveals that Carpenter's character is actually a zombie and is supposed to be one of the cadavers in the mortuary. * John Carpenter was originally tapped to direct the adapation of Stephen King's Firestarter in 1984, which would have been written by The Thing script writer Bill Lancaster. However, due to poor theatrical returns on The Thing, both men were dropped from the project. * Four of Carpenter's films, ''The Thing'', ''Prince of Darkness'', ''They Live'' and ''Village of the Damned'' have been included on the John Carpenter: Master of Fear DVD collection. External Links * John Carpenter at AMG * John Carpenter at TCM * John Carpenter at IMDB * John Carpenter at Wikipedia * John Carpenter Official Website References ----